Next Jeep Grand Cherokee Coming In 2021, Three-Row Jeep At End Of 2020

FCA is gearing up for a Jeep product blitz that includes the Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and an unnamed three-row SUV.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has revealed plans to invest $4.5 billion in five of its Michigan plants to meet growing demand and introduce two new Jeep models.

Approximately $1.6 billion will go to converting the two plants that make up the Mack Avenue Engine Complex into an assembly site for the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, which will be based off the Alfa Romeo platform underpinning the Stelvio and is slated to arrive in the first half of 2020. It will also build an unnamed three-row full-size Jeep alongside the Grand Cheroke and several plug-in hybrid Jeep models.

Little is known about the new three-row full-size SUV, but it will be distinct from the Ram 1500–based Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer that start production in early 2021 and could very well be a longer wheelbase version of the Grand Cherokee.

FCA will introduce plug-in hybrid versions of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer models first, followed by two more hybrid models. Fully electric Jeep battery electric vehicles are also planned.

The Italian automaker is getting ready to enter the electric vehicle segment.

Alfa Romeo used the 2019 Geneva Motor show to debut the Tonale Concept, previewing its first plug-in hybrid.

Sharing a design language with the larger Stelvio, the sleek compact crossover stands out with a large lower grille flanked by LED-array headlights that are thinner than those on the Stelvio and retro design elements like Alfa Romeo’s characteristic phone-dial wheel, which as borrowed from the 33 Stradale of the 1960s.

Highlights of the interior include a 12.3-inch full digital instrument cluster, a large 10.25-inch touchscreen for the central head unit, and premium materials ranging from aluminum to Alcantara and leather.

Technical details or a launch window for the production Tonale were not revealed, but the model was envisioned with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Alfa Romeo plans to launch a total of six PHEVs by the end of 2022, and the Tonale will certainly be one of them.

Toyota Kills The Prius C, Replaces It With Corolla Hybrid

Buyers are encouraged to go for the new Corolla Hybrid instead.

Now that there is a hybrid version of the popular Corolla, Toyota figures it has one too many small hybrid vehicles in its lineup. It has quietly killed off the Prius C hybrid to give more breathing room for both the regular Prius and Corolla hybrid.

The Prius C debuted in 2011 as a smaller alternative to the Prius Liftback, but the Corolla Hybrid is bigger and more efficient, matching the standard Prius’s 52-mpg combined rating in the United States compared to the Prius C’s 46-mpg combined rating.

“You’re probably not going to see Prius C for long,” Toyota marketing vice president Ed Laukes told . “The Prius C has served its purpose well.”

The fuel-sipping Corolla is intended to maximize sales of Toyota’s hybrid powertrain platform by appealing to a broader group of customers who may be put off by the Prius’ polarizing looks but still want extremely good fuel efficiency.

Ford Mustang Hybrid Will Have V8 Engine And AWD?

Ford’s gasoline-electric muscle car will be a first in more than one way.

The upcoming Ford Mustang hybrid might actually have a V8 engine like its predecessors, literally giving it V8 power rather than the “V8-like” power previously alluded.

New patent filings uncovered by suggest Ford doesn’t necessarily see electrification as an excuse to downsize. Filed by the American automaker in July 2017 but not published until January 2019, the filings outline a “twin motor drive system for hybrid vehicle” consisting of a a longitudinally-mounted internal combustion engine that powers the rear wheels and a two electric motors that each spins one of the front wheels via a reduction gearbox.

This setup effectively gives the Mustang all-wheel drive for the first time ever in the model’s long and storied history.

Although the patent notes the hybrid system is compatible with a variety of internal combustion engines, it clearly shows an eight-cylinder engine. Ford wasn’t necessarily alluding to V8-like power when it announced back in 2018 that the Mustang hybrid would have “V8 levels of power and even more torque.”

The company has fast-tracked the Mustang hybrid to production, with plans to release it sometime in 2020. How do you envision it?